Second ODI: Yuvraj, Dhoni steer India to series-clinching win

Cuttack, Jan 19 (IANS) India rode on centuries from Yuvraj Singh and Mahendra Singh Dhoni to edge out England by 15 runs in a high-scoring thriller in their second One-Day International (ODI) cricket match at the Barabati Stadium here on Thursday.

Yuvraj and Dhoni displayed superb form with the bat to help India recover from a poor start and post a massive total of 381/6.

In reply, England came up with a brave challenge spearheaded by a century from Eoin Morgan to post 366/8 in the allotted 50 overs.

India thus sealed an insurmountable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.

Morgan scored 102 runs off just 81 deliveries with six boundaries and five sixes before being run out in the final stages.

Opener Jason Roy (82), Moeen Ali (55) and Joe Root (54) also notched up half-centuries to set up England’s ultimately futile run chase.

Star off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin was the pick of the Indian bowlers with figures of 3/65 in his 10 overs. Pacer Jasprit Bumrah returned 2/81 while Ravindra Jadeja and Bhuvaneshwar Kumar picked up a wicket each.

Earlier, asked to bat first, the hosts were off to a rocky start with England pacer Chris Woakes reducing them to 25/3 by the fifth over.

But Yuvraj and Dhoni took charge to ensure that England could not build on their advantage.

The duo added 256 runs between them in 38.2 overs to bring the Indian innings back on track.

Yuvraj posted 150 runs, surpassing his previous personal best score of 139 and also accumulated the most runs by an Indian batsman against England, going past the legendary Sachin Tendulkar.

The Punjab southpaw’s sublime 127-ball innings included a whopping 21 boundaries and three sixes before an attempted drive ended up giving a thickish edge to England wicketkeeper Jos Buttler to hand Woakes his fourth wicket of the match.

Foillowing Yuvraj’s departure, Dhoni launched a fearsome assault on the England bowlers to help push India beyond the 350-run mark.

The former India captain plundered 134 runs off 122 balls with 10 boundaries and six hits into the stands. He was caught on the square leg boundary by David Willey while trying to hit Liam Plunkett for another six.

Ravindra Jadeja and Hardik Pandya came up with the big shots towards the close to end the Indian innings on a high.

Woakes sent back the entire Indian top-order for figures of 4/46 in nine overs.